In the field of dentures, one difficulty faced by dental surgeons is when a patient does not possess sufficient teeth in the jaw, but has enough bone in the jaw to support implants. A regular denture rests on the gums, and is not supported by implants. In some instances, an implant-supported denture is used, which is a type of denture that is supported by and attached to the implants. An implant-supported denture has special attachments that affix onto attachments on the implants.
Implant-supported dentures usually are made for the lower jaw because regular dentures tend to be less stable there. Usually, a regular denture made to fit an upper jaw is quite stable on its own and does not need the extra support offered by implants. However, a patient can receive an implant-supported denture in either the upper or lower jaw. In some instances, an implant-supported denture is utilized because the bone and tissue structure of the patient is not well-suited to stably retain a non-implant-supported denture.
In some instances, surgery is required for bone reduction where the denture system will not suitably fit on the patients jaw and gums. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to accurately reduce a patient's bone, for example, by using a convention denture baseplate as a trimming guide, as it prohibits access to the area needing reduction. Traditionally, a medical professional would grind the patient's bone, then test fit the denture system in an iterative process of grinding and test fitting.
Furthermore, the fitting of a conventional implant-supported denture is often difficult and inaccurate due to the need to fit the denture quickly because the patient is experiencing post-operation pain. For example, a conventional implant-supported denture may be fitted immediately following the implant surgery. In some instances, this fitting involves trimming along the border of the denture for hygienic reasons, for example, so food will not be trapped behind the denture base. Conventional implant-supported dentures often must be trimmed by grinding or cutting wherein the medical professional must test fit the denture repeatedly during the grinding or cutting process, prolonging the fitting and in some instances, exacerbating patient pain. Medical professionals fitting a conventional implant-supported denture also risk overtrimming the denture during the grinding or cutting process. Similar difficulties confront a medical professional performing a conventional bone reduction procedure. The procedure is often inaccurate and risks overtrimming due to the necessity of repeated trial fitting of the denture system or conventional denture baseplate.